External Harddrive: improve quality?

LeperDoctor · Post by **LeperDoctor** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:04 am

Whenever I convert Vobs to .Avi, the .avi files are all jerky and skip. I read a FAQ that mentioned lack of space on your computer can lead to dropped frames, resulting in the jerky / skipping scenes like I have. In that case, increasing memory should work.

But my computer is older, and I need the programs / files that I have on it; I can't delete. But I found out about external hard drives the other day. Would adding an external hard drive better held the video quality, or is it useless? I'm only really considering it for AMV-making help.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:17 am

1. Lack of space does not cause "jerkiness".
2. More space won't improve video quality.
3. Jerkiness can be cause either by slow hard drive or slow processor.
4. External hard drives tend to be not as fast as internal ones (someone correct me if I'm wrong) so it may lead to jerkiness in itself.

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:31 am

If you have so little HDD space that the system starts thrashing from the pagefile it will slow your system down. But we're talking about having HDD space on the magnitude of what you have for RAM. It is most likely a combination of processor / HDD seek time.

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:56 am

yes, external hard drives are markedly slower than their internal brethren.

Lack of space won't be causing this problem, but you will need more space to store your clips (or the finished version of your amv). Internal hard drives are cheaper than external, but if you're not sure what needs to be done (for installing an internal hard drive) I'd just stick with an external.

What you may be experiencing is the multiple angle problem
a few frames will play, and then the same few frames will repeat, then some new frames and then they repeat again.

If that sounds familiar, then you need to re-rip your vobs.
In dvdDecrypter, use ifo mode instead of file mode

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:08 am

Kariudo wrote:yes, external hard drives are markedly slower than their internal brethren.

Not necessarily...(use eSATA).

LeperDoctor · Post by **LeperDoctor** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:17 am

Kay, awesome! I'll re-rip the Vobs, and if they're still odd, I'll see what I can do about my processor speed. Thanks for all the help!

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:50 am

How fast is your processor? And is this on a laptop by any chance?

LeperDoctor · Post by **LeperDoctor** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:11 pm

Zarxrax wrote:How fast is your processor? And is this on a laptop by any chance?

This is on a laptop, actually. I have a Pentium 4 CPU 2.2 GHz processor, if that means anything. <.<;;

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:14 pm

Kariudo probably had i right with the multiple angle problem or it's a similar type of bad rip issue. I edited with an external HDD on an older laptop for years without the kind of problems you're describing.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:52 pm

In the case of a laptop, adding an external hard drive might help. Laptops typically contain very slow hard drives.